We Heart It is an image-based social networking site which brands are using to launch and advertise campaigns to young women and teen girls. Here is a screenshot of one those WeHeartIt ad campaign from Old Navy.

Photo: We Heart It

We Heart It is an image-based social networking site which brands...

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LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 09: General view of atmosphere at Amber Montana celebrates the launch of I Heart UGG at Nordstrom - The Grove Los Angeles at The Grove on August 9, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for UGG Australia)

Photo: Michael Kovac, Getty Images For UGG Australia

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 09: General view of atmosphere at Amber...

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LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 09: Shoes worn by Amber Montana (shoe detail) at the launch of I Heart UGG at Nordstrom - The Grove Los Angeles at The Grove on August 9, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for UGG Australia)

Photo: Michael Kovac, Getty Images For UGG Australia

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 09: Shoes worn by Amber Montana (shoe...

Image 4 of 4

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 09: General view of atmosphere at Amber Montana celebrates the launch of I Heart UGG at Nordstrom - The Grove Los Angeles at The Grove on August 9, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for UGG Australia)

Recently Bud Stevenson, a septuagenarian, found himself extremely irritated by We {heart} It, the social network popular with teenage girls.

It's not that Stevenson spends much time browsing social networks packed with sunshine and girl power. Until last week, he'd never heard of the company.

But now, Stevenson is on a crusade. And he sees We {heart} It - pronounced "we heart it" - as the latest in a long line of offenders.

"The 'heart' is to be read, and said, as 'love,' not 'heart,' " said Stevenson, 70, a retired stockbroker who lives in Fairfield.

Love, in other words, has sort of lost its meaning.

Across cultures and centuries, a symbol of a heart has been a way to graphically express emotions such as love and affection. But its use as a verb can be traced back to 1977, when New York City introduced the "I Love New York" campaign. It included television commercials that feature a catchy theme song and a logo, designed by Milton Glaser, that looked like this: I {heart} NY.

And all of the sudden the heart was everywhere.

"The heart symbol became shorthand for enthusiasm about everything from software to Yorkshire terriers. It was a stamp that validated lifestyles. People could {heart} their grandchildren or line dancing or Buddha," wrote siblings Stephen and Thomas Amidon, a novelist and a cardiologist, in their 2011 book, "The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart."

Within years, "I Love New York" began being transliterated in writing as "I (heart) New York."

A 1985 New York Times article on the city's hotels described the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau scattering "big apples and 'I (heart) New York' buttons all around town." By 2009, love was lost. A story in the Times that year recalled that Glaser had "helped create the I Heart New York logo in the late '70s."

As the heart in typeface has become an increasing ubiquitous symbol, its symbolism has also been greatly diluted. In the days of emoji and Instagram, the heart is used to express everything from admiration to applause.

We {heart} It, a still young social network that's something akin to a digital scrapbook, said the heart in its name does not even symbolize love.

"We always wanted to go with 'heart,' " said Fabio Giolito, the company's founder. "The heart is really symbolic - it is where you keep your emotions. When people say 'Follow your heart' they mean your core values and true self. So 'hearting' something means you identify with it."

"We also didn't want to make the word 'love' banal," he added.

For Stevenson, names like We {heart} It are the biggest perversion of the symbol's original intent. He has been a frequent and vocal critic of the heart. He comments voraciously on newspaper stories that, in his opinion, misuse the heart, and has several times mentioned the vexation in a column he writes for his local newspaper, the Daily Republic.

His wife is tired of hearing about it, but, as a native New Yorker, he feels it is his duty to defend the verb love's honor.

"Heart is not a verb," he said. "I'm sure I've shortened my life span by several years by getting angry every time I see that."

There is not only We Heart It, the social network. There's iHeartRadio, the Internet radio platform, I Heart Hair, the online hair extension purveyor, and Stevenson's favorite example, "I Heart Huckabees," the 2004 movie.